CTCs in Primary Breast Cancer II

Authors: E Saloustros D Mavroudis

Publish Date: 2012

Volume: , Issue: , Pages: 187-192

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Abstract

CTCs can be detected by realtime RTPCR for CK19 mRNA in the blood of early breast cancer patients before the start and after the completion of adjuvant chemotherapy and during adjuvant hormonal therapy and the followup Patients with CK19 mRNApositive cells both before and after chemotherapy have the worst prognosis with shorter diseasefree and overall survival The same is true for patients who have detectable CK19 mRNApositive cells despite adjuvant tamoxifen while persistent detection during the followup predicts for late disease relapse Thus CTC monitoring offers the opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant therapy and identify those patients who are more likely to benefit from secondary adjuvant treatments

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